Word.ws English Dictionary

many happy returns

many happy returns noun: a greeting, usually for birthdays, in reference to the passing year; Happy birthday!

Noun

many happy returns

  1. (idiomatic) A greeting, usually for birthdays, in reference to the passing year; Happy birthday!

Origin of many happy returns

The earliest attributable use was by Lady Newdigate in a letter written in 1789 (and published in Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels in 1898): Many happy returns of ye day to us my Dr Love.

Questions about many happy returns

What does many happy returns mean?
Many happy returns means a greeting, usually for birthdays, in reference to the passing year; Happy birthday!
What part of speech is many happy returns?
Many happy returns is a noun.

Words near many happy returns in the dictionary

  1. many and various
  2. many another
  3. many at times
  4. many hands make light work
  5. many happies
  6. many happy returns
  7. many moons ago
  8. many moons from now
  9. many such cases
  10. many thanks
  11. many time

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: many happy returns (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-many happy returns.ogg.

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